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Re: adding desktop files to misc packages



Le mercredi 25 juillet 2007 à 19:35 +0200, Frank Küster a écrit :
> >> Menus, by their nature, are inherently unusable for the most frequently
> >> used apps, and we should not be trying to make them more usable at the
> >> expense of making less frequently used apps harder to access.
> >
> > Why shouldn't we attempt to make menus usable?
> 
> Because, as Marvin wrote in the text you cite, the drawback is that it
> makes less frequently used applications harder to access.

If an application is used so infrequently, it shouldn't have its place
in a menu. Furthermore, in the case a user needs it more often, he can
add it to the menu. This becomes even easier if the menu entry is only
hidden, not absent.

> There are other ways to make menus usable even for frequently used
> applications, without these drawbacks:  For example, if a user can
> influence the order of entries, that would help much more.

Or that could be even more confusing.

> But I agree with Marvin (and that's also my usage scheme) that menus
> should provide access to the less frequently used applications, not the
> ones started very often.  I don't have toolbars in my WM, but it starts
> the frequently used apps without asking me, so I use the menu for the
> rare ones.

This is also my usage scheme: everyday apps in the session, less
frequently used apps in the menu, rarely used apps in a terminal or a
launching tool.

> I have little experience with such users; the ones I know and would call
> "computer illiterate" use the windows desktop or the Mac dock for
> starting their pet applications.  If there's actually a considerable
> number of people who don't even get that far, I'm not sure how to help
> them.  Maybe you are right, and hiding stuff is a possibility.
> Automatically moving the often-used entries to a well-visible toolbar is
> an alternative; I generally don't like if computers change their
> appearance based on what they perceive my usage patterns, but maybe it's
> the better choice here than hiding.

Things like slab are an attempt in this direction, by making frequently
used applications automatically directly accessible, but last time I
looked at it I was not convinced at all by the result. I also agree that
changing the appearance depending on usage is not a good idea.

-- 
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